Mr Baldwin surprised even himself with the extent of the swing to him of more than five per cent.

He has now held Paterson continuously since 2001 and it again is the only Liberal-held seat in the Hunter.

"I feel very encouraged the people have invested their vote with me and we are determined not to let them down," he said.

He said while a goal of the campaign had been to win the seat on primary votes, the margin had come as a surprise.

In terms of delivering on campaign promises Mr Baldwin said that would have to wait until after the deadlock over which party will govern is resolved.

"We'll have to see who forms a government and if it is Tony Abbott then we will deliver everything we promised in full," he said.

A major Liberal promise for the electorate was $71 million in road funding including $6 million towards the estimated $10 million cost of building the bypass road from Nelson Bay to Fingal Bay.

Mr Arneman while disappointed with the outcome remained adamant his team had put its best foot forward.

"I am very proud of the efforts put in and the result was well below the state swing which indicates the positive result of our campaign," he said.

Mr Arneman was reluctant to admit a controversial 11th hour visit to the area by Prime Minister Julia Gillard had hurt the campaign.

But he took the opportunity to have one last dig at Mr Baldwin.

"Despite the result I think we put in as much as could be expected up against a well-resourced opponent," he said.

Mr Arneman remained tight lipped about being a candidate at next March's state election.

At the 2007 state election he was the Labor candidate in Port Stephens which Craig Baumann won for the Liberal party by the narrowest of margins of 0.1 per cent.

Mr Arneman said he now wanted to spend time with family.

"I have not made a decision (about next March) at this stage and intend to spend some quality time with loved ones," he said.

Another surprise in the Paterson result was the high number of informal votes polling booths. They came at more than 4000 across the electorate.